End Games: The Challenge of Sustainability

Please click on the link below to view the report End Games: The Challenge of Sustainability, by the Cornerstone Consulting Group, April 2002, and funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. In this report, The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts is cited for its proactive approach to sustainability planning.

The report offers suggestions to foundations across the country, one of which is to start working on sustainability earlier in the grantmaking process. "We found one foundation, The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts (HFCM), that actually raises the sustainability question from the very first moment of the application process. HFCM's process is called results-oriented grantmaking and grant implementation. Prospective grant recipients answer 10 accountability questions at the time of the application. The final question addresses sustainability: "If the program is successful, how will it be sustained?" The appropriateness of the plan for dealing with the eventual phasing out of funding becomes part of the criteria for providing support. Many foundations talk about the value of focusing on sustainability from the outset, but this is the only process we found in which making a grant is conditioned on sustainability." (page 18)